Case Number 11155

Requiem

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All Rise...

Boredom lies in Judge Joel Pearce's soul.

The Charge

Evil lies in her soul.

Opening Statement

Despite some sinister looking cover art, Requiem is really more
interested in the true experiences of a girl caught between a strict religious
upbringing and new understanding of disease. It's certainly a different take on
the story of Anneliese Michel, but one that North American audiences may find
less entertaining.

Facts of the Case

Michaela (Sandra Hüller, Madonnas) is excited to head off to
college. It will be a welcome opportunity to escape her strict parents,
especially since it's been a year since she's suffered an attack from her
crippling epilepsy. Her mother (Imogen Kogge, The Wedding Party) thinks
it's a bad idea, but her father (Burghard Klauβner, Good Bye Lenin)
encourages this as a step in the right direction. It's not long before Michaela
starts having seizures again, though, accompanied by strange visions and voices.
Is it epilepsy or could it be something supernatural? Michaela begs her priest
to consider the possibility that she's possessed, but he is afraid to even
consider it. After all, she's always been such a good girl…

That's all starting to change, though, as she suffers through her horrible
fate. She wants relief, whether at the hands of the Catholic church or in the
arms of her new boyfriend. One way or another, this story was always set to end
in tragedy.

The Evidence

For a North American audience, it's hard to analyze Requiem without
comparing it to The Exorcism of Emily
Rose. Both tell the tragic, mysterious story of Anneliese Michel, a young
German woman who died after a series of exorcism attempts in 1976. Most of us
are already familiar with the American production, which transplanted the story
to America and centered on the court trial that found Michel's priests and
parents guilty of her death. Requiem takes a very different approach to
the story, perhaps because it was produced closer to home. Rather than zeroing
in on the court trial that took place after her death, this production is more
concerned with her experiences and the relationships she had with the people
around her.

Director Hans-Christian Schmid makes another key choice that fundamentally
alters how we understand the story. In The Exorcism of Emily Rose, we see
the visions and hear the voices that haunted her. We're hard pressed to
understand the tale in anything but supernatural terms, since we witness the
events from Emily's perspective. In Requiem, however, we never get to see
what Michaela sees. Because of this, we are forced to consider other
possibilities. She is, after all, a severe epileptic who also shows clear signs
of depression. She had an unreasonably strict religious upbringing with an
über-bitch of a mother and an enabling father. Instead of a religious
mystery, Requiem can just as easily been seen as a social tragedy,
revealing how archaic Catholic ideas and smalltown superstition can lead to
unnecessary pain and suffering.

Of course, there's a reason that The Exorcism of Emily Rose chose to
show everything. It's simply more exciting that way. Requiem often plays
more like a TV biopic, which is sometimes not that compelling. It's also a
cautious production, perhaps because it's a bit closer to home and some of the
people affected by the tragedy are still alive. Considering the grim, gothic
feel of the cover—I have no idea who the robed man is—many viewers
will be expecting something grittier. They'll be disappointed by this
slow-moving character portrait. That doesn't make it a bad film, but it's also
not as risky as it could be. It is unwilling to take a real stand on the issues,
and so fails to reach a satisfying conclusion. Fortunately, the actors deliver
excellent work, so we feel attached to the characters even when the film is not
as engaging as it should be.

The DVD is also a bit of a disappointment. The image quality is mediocre, as
is too often the case with European films. It shows evidence of a PAL to NTSC
conversion. It also suffers from washed out colors and weak black level. More
than anything, it just looks bland. The sound is better, with clear dialogue and
subtle use of the surrounds in the German 5.1 track. There are no extras on the
disc at all.

Closing Statement

If you are a fan of The Exorcism of
Emily Rose, it may be worth renting Requiem to get a different
perspective on the story. It's heartbreaking to watch the pain that Michaela
goes through in her quest for peace, especially with so much ambiguity as to the
nature of her pain. There's so much superstition in the world. This film
highlights the dangers of either dismissing the supernatural out of hand or
embracing it too readily. More than anything, the film truly is a requiem for
Anneliese Michel, and a reminder that our entertainment so often comes from sad,
tragic truth. Horror fans may want to pass by this offering, though, as they
will find little here that satisfies the visceral urges that push us towards
that brand of entertainment.